A saint's day
St Christopher the Martyr
St Christopher, first called Reprebus, was a man of huge stature and strength in the third century, who asked God to make him plain of face so as to tempt no one. Sent with two hundred soldiers to the emperor Decius, he went willingly; on the way his staff blossomed and bread was multiplied, and the soldiers were baptized with him. After many torments he was beheaded in Lycia about 250; his name means “Christ-bearer.”
The dates
- Kept on
- 9 May (22 May on the Old Calendar)
- Next, New Calendar
- Next, Old Calendar
The New Calendar (the Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian churches, the OCA and most converts) keeps fixed feasts on the church date; the Old Calendar (the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos) keeps them 13 days later. Pascha and the feasts that follow it are kept on the same day by both.
How the day is kept
Orthodox Christians pray to him for protection on their journeys and in times of contagious disease.
He shares his day with the translation of the relics of St Nicholas to Bari, and before the summer road Orthodox families pray to both for a safe journey and a safe return home.
The story of the giant who carried the Christ Child across the river, and the medal for drivers, come mainly from the West, though Greeks have adopted them widely.
Name days
These names keep their name day on this feast: